Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

toddwschneider.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 294 posts

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#261

Post by CydeWeys »

pcsanwald wrote: post #178
CydeWeys wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live? I'm in Manhattan, and people rarely cycle on the sidewalk here. There's simply no room to do so, as there's so many pedestrians. You end up going more slowly than if you stayed on the street where you belong in nearly all circumstances. Don't be too mad at the cyclists, though. Usually they're doing it because the city isn't providing the proper level of bike infrastructure. With more high quality…

I'm a longtime NYer who recently moved to SF. for the past 10 years I've commuted by running each way, ~3-5 miles each way. plenty of experience with bikes and cars in urban areas. Biking on the sidewalk is WAY more common in SF than in NYC, especially in manhattan. In SF, there seems to be a few main reasons: 1 - Biking on the street would clearly be unsafe. An example here is 3rd st between portrero and soma. 2 - B…

I do #2 every day because my apartment building doesn't have a curb cut anywhere near its front entrance. Simple fixes like this would improve lives not just for cyclists but also for the handicapped.

When I'm on the sidewalk, however, I'm only going at a brisk walking pace when pedestrians are present.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#262

Post by wooter »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #258
wooter wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

seems like a bad law. i won’t ask anyone to risk their lives over a bad law

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Biking on the sidewalk is not safe.

you can't possibly know that for a vast amount of situations right?

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#263

Post by jandrese »

clort wrote: post #255
jandrese wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I obey stoplights on my bike, but it's really punishing sometimes. Bikes don't trip the sensors so the light will ignore you until a car pulls up behind you. This can require three or four cycles of the lights if traffic in your direction is sparse.

In the UK at least, you can often see a rubber strip in a square where the sensor has been added to the road (they cut a slot then re-seal it). I try to stop with my wheel rims right on strip and it often triggers the lights. In fact, I wonder sometimes if it actually senses stronger because the metal wheel rim is so much closer as I've had the light turn immediately if I get it just so. (the specific junction I use…

Sadly, the roads around here don't have visible seams where the sensors are. I'm going to have to guess.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#264

Post by viraptor »

yellowbeard wrote: post #251
booleandilemma wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a pedestrian I would have a lot more sympathy for cyclists if they stopped at red lights like cars do. Crossing the street in NYC is more dangerous than it has to be because you always have to be wary of a person on a bike coming out from behind a truck or something.

I don't think the data supports your assertion. Car drivers injure and kill a couple orders of magnitude more pedestrians in NYC than cyclists do.

You're unlikely to report every time a bike runs into you. Most of the time you won't even be really injured - just some bruises and pain. That's not big enough for statistics, but it still sucks as an experience.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#265

Post by viraptor »

gerbilly wrote: post #249
dkhenry wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. They tend to pop up and make wild claims about how dangerous bikers are, or how much they dislike how bikers use the streets since streets are for cars, and bikes are for children. What I have found in actually talking to people is most people support and encourage bikes, and would love to bike, but don't feel safe. Bikes make everything about…

> most bikers observe the traffic laws Why the fixation with traffic laws whenever bikes come up? I bike to work and I don't follow the rules, I run reds, blow stop signs, ride on the sidewalks and so on. However, I am courteous and polite to everyone. My goal is to not startle or inconvenience any other user of the road (or sidewalk). Why should I stop at stop signs like a boyscout? That's just false piety. The rule…

You are why we can't have nice things. If you don't follow the rules, others don't know what to expect from you. That means you are more likely to cause an accident. You're right the rules weren't designed in a perfect world - if it was perfect, nobody would have accidents. Instead we need rules so you know what others are likely to do.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#266

Post by tomsthumb »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #219
tomsthumb wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waiting at red lights _can_ be more dangerous than not waiting. Ask motorcyclists how they feel about being the lone vehicle at a redlight.

Are you going to elaborate on that, or should I conjure up a motorcyclist from thin air and ask them how they feel?

It can be dangerous to be the only person or vehicle at a red light if you are a motorcyclist or bicyclist because cars can fail to notice you until they are quite close. Many motorcyclists apply and release their brakes, and sometimes add modifications to their tail lights so that they flicker when coming on to make it even more noticeable.

I pay at least as much attention when I am the lone cyclist at a red light (particularly at night) as when I am actively moving and riding in traffic, and have had a number of vehicles come to a stop a bit close or a bit too quickly for comfort. This is in an area with _a_lot_ of cyclists.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#267

Post by rhinoceraptor »

wooter wrote: post #262
rhinoceraptor wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Biking on the sidewalk is not safe.

you can't possibly know that for a vast amount of situations right?

Certainly it depends on the road, but the most common type of accidents are cars failing to yield while turning, either into other roads or driveways.

Cars are looking for road traffic when they’re turning, so to be most visible you should be on the road. They’re not looking for cyclist riding 15-20 mph on the sidewalk.

And in my experience, all of the close calls I’ve had have been while riding on the sidewalk. The closest I ever came to getting hit was a car turning while I was crossing a crosswalk at speed. I had to swerve and jump the curb to avoid getting hit.

Also, cars and cyclists are much more similar than pedestrians and cyclists are. Pedestrians can stop and turn instantly, while cars and cyclists cannot. Pedestrians also are likely to be on their phone, walking a dog, or pushing a stroller. Or all of those at once.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#268

Post by 7952 »

fishtank wrote: post #49
dr_ wrote: post #4

As a pedestrian crossing the straw in NYC, you will typically wait for cars to stop, then walk about 2/3 of the way into the street, then peer into the bike lane to make sure no bikes are coming, then complete your crossing. Most of the bikers, from my experience, do not follow rules such as stopping at a Stop sign or for pedestrians or at their own bike designated stop lights. It may be nice to bike in the cities pa…

I would encourage anybody who thinks cyclocommuters are particularly bad actors to stand on a busy urban street corner and count the percentage of drivers who are actively engaged with their mobile phone. You can identify them easily because they will be shiftily looking downward at sporadic intervals, rolling stop signs, and failing to notice traffic light changes. In addition to the phone-related dangerous behavior…

I treat it as a game now. How many minutes until I see someone playing with their phone. Rarely more than 60 seconds in stop-go traffic.

It is striking how much safety is dependent on pedestrians accomodating distracted drivers. It seems quite unreasonable that so much responsibility is placed on users who are are no risk to anyone. And any pedestrian that does not comply is treated as if they are introducing the danger themselves. Classic victim blaming.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#269

Post by belorn »

_jal wrote: post #203
belorn wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> can top 20 mph barreling down the sidewalk. Sometimes with cargo in tow. I would be very surprised to see that on a side walk. 20mph is above the speed limits for cars in cities here in Sweden, and I recall reading that while the police can catch people speeding on bikes that its not very likely event. > Usually with no notice and as is convenient for them Seems similar to parents with strollers. I have never heard…

> I would be very surprised to see that on a side walk I don't walk to work with a radar gun, but sidewalk-bikes barreling down on me are a daily occurrence (San Francisco). Not people coasting down the block, people actively pumping and dodging. I've been run over by a bike twice, and while I'll take that any day vs. a car, those shitheads need to stay off the sidewalk. I am very pro-bike. I road one to work daily,…

Is that down a big hill? Naturally local phenomenon can be at any part of a variance, but it seems very odd. Even on a large stretch of leveled road, few bikes get close to 15 mph and the only time I have seen one go faster is from a professional biker, on a racing bicycle, doing a training run, and I would assume that their training paths don't generally include cargo and sidewalks.

The average bike speed, as far as I know, is average 10 mph on city bike roads. Seeing a bike going 20 on a city sidewalk is like seeing a car going 150 on narrow city roads. I am sure it happens, but it is illegal, very dangerous, and not something most people will ever see in a life time. I think it is just fair to treat both forms equal and address it for what it is.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#270

Post by revelation »

jandrese wrote: post #151
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>most bikers observe the traffic laws Not in Philadelphia, at least. I walk everywhere, and racking my brain for bike encounters I can only recall one of maybe 20 instances in which a bike actually stopped at a red light. I can recall at least a third of those instances where bikes were travelling the wrong way on a one way street, and another third with bikes on the sidewalk. That being said, I still think biking is…

I obey stoplights on my bike, but it's really punishing sometimes. Bikes don't trip the sensors so the light will ignore you until a car pulls up behind you. This can require three or four cycles of the lights if traffic in your direction is sparse.

I mean, this is a very good example for the kind of care taken by the people designing and overseeing roads in respect to cycling.

Can you fucking imagine shipping a product that just plain doesn't work for a large part of what the law defines as a vehicle? For something as crucial as a light? Can you imagine installing that as the government, not in some test locations, but all over?

I'm not quite sure what specifications lights need to conform to but a good fricking starting point seems like the law. These things are just plain defective.

Post reply on HN